Position in chronology
Fs Sigrist 027, no. 04
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P234823.
Transliteration
1(barig) kasz 1(barig) ninda 1(disz) sila3 i3 lugal elam szi-ma-asz-gi5 u3 an-sza-an-na-ke4? szu ba-ti 5(disz) sila3 kasz 5(disz) sila3 ninda 1(disz) i3 id-gur2 giri3 szu-dumu-zi sukkal 5(disz) sila3 kasz 5(disz) sila3 ninda 1(disz) i3 id-gur2 u3# giri3 i3-la?-lum sukkal szi-ma-asz-gi5-ta u3 an-sza-an-ta gen-na iti mu-szu-du7
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Fs Sigrist 027, no. 04. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (P234823) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P234823..
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.